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27 Sep 01
Public service union Unison has demanded an urgent meeting with health minister Jacqui Smith to discuss the staffing 'crisis' in social services.
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27 Sep 01
Housing stock transfers have become too process-driven and do not provide enough choice for tenants, social landlords at the National Housing Federation conference in Birmingham were told.
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27 Sep 01
A surprise bill to grant local authorities more freedom to borrow in an attempt to placate unions and put public services on a more 'level playing field' with the private sector will be severely...
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20 Sep 01
Public sector trade union Unison has hailed the collapse of a £100m deal between Kent County Council and Hyder Business Services as a watershed in public-private partnerships that could ultimately...
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20 Sep 01
Nearly half of all council services that have had a Best Value inspection have been judged unlikely to improve or worse, according to the Audit Commission.
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20 Sep 01
New social landlords set up following stock transfers from local councils are being warned against relying on former housing department staff to fill their leading posts.
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20 Sep 01
The government has failed to convince the public that it has delivered improvements in public services, even though public sector managers believe progress has been made.
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20 Sep 01
Birmingham looks set to become the battleground for directly elected mayors, with both sides claiming victory in this week's consultative referendum.
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20 Sep 01
Business leaders are demanding that the government keeps its promise to overhaul radically the 'failing' planning system in its forthcoming green paper.
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20 Sep 01
Council leaders have urged the government to find time for legislation to introduce the promised changes to the capital controls regime.
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20 Sep 01
Local government officials have welcomed tough new targets on cutting air pollution but are seeking government help in implementing them.
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20 Sep 01
Years of financial mismanagement and political chaos have earned the London Borough of Hackney the dubious distinction of being the first local authority to face a central government takeover.
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13 Sep 01
The proposed shake-up of the Ofsted inspection regime unveiled by chief inspector of schools Mike Tomlinson has been given a ringing endorsement by the Local Government Association.
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13 Sep 01
Senior CIPFA officers met local government minister Nick Raynsford this week to press for important changes to the Best Value regime and to discuss other issues concerning councils.
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13 Sep 01
Local authorities could be faced with bills of millions of pounds to clear up old landfill sites, following a recent report in the British Medical Journal which suggested a link between birth defects...
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13 Sep 01
The government's £2bn New Deal for Communities programme is helping to cut crime rates and boost the local economy in some areas, the first annual review has shown.
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13 Sep 01
The Northeast will be the focus of the campaign for directly elected mayors, with Prime Minister Tony Blair's constituency Sedgefield confirming that it will join three other neighbouring boroughs...
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13 Sep 01
The public sector procurement process is excluding small businesses and is overly skewed in favour of large and well-established firms, according to a new report.
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13 Sep 01
Local authorities fear they may be excluded from crucial decision-making after housing associations dominated a government programme to provide low-cost housing for more than 11,000 key public sector...
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13 Sep 01
Social landlords are becoming less popular with their tenants, according to a new government survey.
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6 Sep 01
Prime Minister Tony Blair will step into the lions' den next week when he delivers an address to the annual conference of the Trades Union Congress in Brighton.
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6 Sep 01
The government launched its blueprint for the future of secondary schools this week, granting ministers reserve powers to curtail failing schools while promising high performers new freedoms.
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6 Sep 01
An independent review commissioned by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) has proposed increasing chief executives' pay by up to 18%.
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6 Sep 01
The number of complaints against English councils has reached record levels.
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6 Sep 01
Local authorities have successfully reduced fraud among private landlords applying for grants to renovate homes.